The invention relates to apparatus which is useful for applying dry wall tape and, more particularly, to a new and advantageous apparatus for dispensing dry wall tape coated with compound for direct application thereof to wall board seams, etc.
Various proposals have been made for the construction of apparatus useful for the application of compound-coated tape to dry wall panels. Typically, such proposals have envisioned more or less portable or hand-held devices for carrying a roll of uncoated tape, a coating head for applying plaster-like fluid to the tape, and structure for applying coated tape to wall panels as by pressure.
However, these prior art devices have not been found to be commercially acceptable and have been less than satisfactory in a number of respects because of certain disadvantages among which may be noted undue complexity, time-consuming difficulty in threading tape (e.g, in and out of various assemblies between guides, over and under rollers, through seals, various slots, etc.), and inability to coat the tape uniformly and thoroughly with compound.
Moreover, these prior art devices typically have required tape compound to be transferred to the device either from a remote location, through some sort of objectionably pumping arrangement, or by hand filling of a smaller container on the device from a bulk shipping container such as a pail. Consequently, need for refilling, adjustment, etc. requires interruption of the user's taping so that valuable time otherwise available for taping is lost. Time also is wasted by the difficulty of cleaning the complicated mechanisms after use. Additionally, the character of prior art devices has made them less than convenient for use because of bulkiness, weight, size, and the like.